


Aftermath

by ConfessionForAnotherTime



Series: Failures [2]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 17:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2118480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfessionForAnotherTime/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A more fatal memory that Leonard wished he could forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

“You’re going to make me late,” Allison pleaded.  
Leonard didn’t protest, hoping to keep her here just a little bit longer. Carolina clung to her father’s leg, letting out a silent tear as she hoped her mother wouldn’t leave again.  
“Now, don’t say goodbye. I hate goodbyes,” Allison told them, “I’ll be back. I promise.”  
With that, she waved and disappeared into the base for her assignment. Leonard picked up Carolina, hugging her close, like he always did when Allison went on a mission. The details, that she could tell them, were fairly routine; she should return in under a week based on projections. There was no reason why she would be gone longer than two, even if they experienced any large delays or problems. Leonard reviewed the mission debriefing after carrying Carolina back to their home on the base. He would have time to talk to her when she got back as he fiddled with the small, velvety box nestled in his pocket. Sure, he worried, but she was careful. Right now, he had their daughter to worry about.

“When will mommy be back?”

“Soon, sweetie. She should be back next week,” Leonard told her. Carolina seemed satisfied with the answer, running off to play with her toys.  
After a few days, Leonard wasn’t surprised he hadn’t heard from Allison yet. As the initial week came to a close, worry began to nag at him a little, but he was careful not to let it show enough for Carolina catch on. Children don’t need to worry. Save that for me, he thought, let her be a kid for just a little bit more.  
Soon, that week turned into two. He hadn’t heard word from Allison at all and while that wasn’t unusual, it still worried him. He wondered why she hadn’t found a way to say she was ok. He wondered what went wrong. Is she ok? Is she playing a sick joke? What do I do, alone, with our kid? They both had commented before her last mission that Carolina was almost impossible to keep up with. The two of them barely had time each morning to make sure her messy red hair was pulled back before she ran out the door to play. Thoughts raced through his mind as each passing minute had him hoping she would burst in the door, kick off her boots, and kiss him, reassuring him that she was in fact fine and all his worrying was for nothing. He wanted nothing more than for her to settle down, with him and their daughter, and stop risking herself on these missions, that while routine, still worried him more and more with each one she went on.  
Leonard looked up as he heard Carolina running across the living room, standing on her tip toes to reach the handle on the door to open it. He hadn’t heard anyone knock, so he assumed that she wanted to go and play.  
“Daddy! Someone’s here!” Carolina yelled to him, unaware of what his presence meant.  
Leonard looked up, his heart sinking into his stomach. The uniformed man had a flag in his hand, a letter pinned to it. The look of shock finally reached his face as he tried to comprehend what life was going to mean now.  
“Daddy!”  
“I’m coming, sweetie,” he answered her in a soft tone.  
“I’m sorry, sir. We just found out,” the soldier told him.  
“Do you know what happened?” Leonard asked, slight desperation in his voice, hoping she could still be alive.  
“No, sir. There was nothing left to recover. I’m sorry for your loss. Allison was an amazing soldier.”  
“Thank you,” Leonard told him, taking the flag and reading the note. Killed in action. Those words reverberated in him like no other. He nodded to the soldier and closed the door.  
“Where’s mommy?”  
“Mommy’s not coming home,” Leonard told her, pulling her into a hug as he held back tears, “Mommy’s not here anymore.”  
“Because she’s away on her mission and she’ll be back later. She’s not here right now. Right daddy?” Carolina asked, not fully grasping the situation.  
“Right. Mommy’s not here right now.”  
Later that night after putting Carolina to bed, Leonard made phone calls to have the funeral the next day. Since a body wasn’t recoverable, the funeral could be at any time. And since her family forgot she existed, it would just be me and Carolina there anyway, besides her military friends. A series of notes were scribbled on the note pad in front of him, detailing time, flower colors, and any other arrangements that needed to be made. Leonard set his glasses on his desk, his eyes unfocusing. He pushed the raven strands away from his vision as he kept trying to figure out details. With the little one in bed, he had more time to think without needing to be strong for her. Looking over at the velvet box, he opened it. An engagement ring was nestled in satin. Leonard snapped it shut as tears began to fall.  
_________  
The next day couldn’t be any worse for a funeral. Rain was falling all around them. Leonard had pulled an old black suit out of their closet. My closet. He ran out with Carolina to get a black dress for her. She was delighted to get a new outfit.  
“Why is it black daddy?”

“Black is what you wear at funerals,” he told her, his eyes downcast.  
“What’s a funeral?” Carolina asked him as she pulled at the lace on the dress.  
“It’s where people go to say goodbye to people they love who have died,” he told her, watching her face.  
“Whose funeral are we going to?” she asked.  
“Mommy’s.”  
“But, mommy is just not here right now. She’s not dead.”  
“No honey. That man that came over last night was there to tell us she had died. Mommy isn’t coming back,” Leonard said in a soft tone, his eyes shining.  
“Mommy’s not dead!” she screamed, alerting a nearby clerk.  
“Shhh shh honey, quiet. We don’t need to be loud about it.”  
Her protests of her mother’s passing turned into sobs as she refused to accept that she wasn’t coming back.  
“She just said she’s not here right now. She isn’t dead! She isn’t!”  
Leonard did his best to calm her, carrying her outside to the side walk, leaving the dress behind.

“Honey, she’s not coming back. I’m sorry,” he told her as he rubbed her back, her body racked with sobs now that she had yelled herself hoarse, “neither of us got to say goodbye. Now it’s just you and me baby. I wish I could bring her back for you.”  
I wish I could bring her back for both of us.


End file.
